Rays hold off Yankees, own best record after 40 games since 2002

NEW YORK -- On the road at Yankee Stadium, a rookie pitcher with the ball.

No matter where they go or who they face these days, the dynamic Tampa Bay Rays keep rolling right along.

Jason Bartlett hit his latest leadoff homer in New York to begin an early beating of the banged-up Yankees, and the streaking Rays held on for a 10-6 victory Wednesday night in the opener of a two-game series between baseball's top two teams.

"That's just how we want to play, regardless of who we're playing," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "It's more of a liberal arts form of playing baseball."

It was a dreadful day all around for the Yankees, who learned star catcher Jorge Posada has a broken bone in his right foot. The team said he'll be sidelined for three to four weeks, but Posada insisted it won't take that long to return.

"I was hoping that it was just a bone bruise, but I woke up this morning and I was still limping," said Posada, who had an MRI exam Wednesday. "At least it's not broken the whole way. I've never had a problem with my feet before."

Already missing three other injured regulars, the Yankees lost reserve outfielder Marcus Thames when he stepped on his own rolling bat and sprained his left ankle on a sixth-inning single. He is day to day.

"I've never seen anyone step on a bat before," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "It's an ankle he has taped anyway, and he has rolled before."

Down to two healthy outfielders, the Yankees likely will make roster moves Thursday.

Evan Longoria had three hits and two RBI, sending the AL East leaders to their fifth straight win. Tampa Bay stole six bases against starting pitcher A.J. Burnett -- four in a four-run fourth inning -- and improved to 29-11, the best record for a big league team after 40 games since Boston had the same mark in 2002.

"This is usually a hard place to play," Carl Crawford said. "It gives us a little confidence going into tomorrow."

Trailing 10-2 going into the ninth, New York scored four times with two outs against Andy Sonnanstine. Joaquin Benoit struck out Juan Miranda with two on for his first save since May 3, 2008, with Texas at Oakland.

Handed a six-run cushion by the fourth, rookie Wade Davis (4-3) held the Yankees in check. Alex Rodriguez hit his 589th home run and Robinson Cano had four hits for New York (25-15), which has dropped seven of 11 since a six-game winning streak.

Faster and fresher than the defending World Series champs, Tampa Bay scampered all over the bases and tagged the hard-throwing Burnett (4-2) for nine hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings.

"We didn't win it with the long ball today -- we really played good baseball," Davis said.

Ben Zobrist even scored from second base when Brett Gardner made a spectacular diving catch at the center-field fence of Carlos Pena's eighth-inning sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 10-2.

"They like to run, they like to put pressure on the defense. They pitch well. We know what they're capable of," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said.

John Jaso also had three hits for the Rays, who moved to an astounding 16-4 on the road while handing New York its fifth loss in 18 home games this year. Tampa Bay had dropped 11 of 15 against New York, and seven straight at Yankee Stadium since June 7 last year.

"You've got to play well in playoff teams' venues. This is a first step," Maddon said. "I just want us to teach ourselves a lesson, and that's that we can play well in this ballpark. I know that they're banged up a little bit right now and I understand that, but you nevertheless saw the kind of pressure they can put at you at the end of a game. Regardless of who's in the lineup, they have a lot of good players."

Bartlett drove Burnett's second pitch to left for his third career leadoff homer -- all in the last two seasons at the new Yankee Stadium. One of those leadoff shots was his previous big league home run, on Sept. 9 off Joba Chamberlain.

Bartlett's last 21 homers have been solo shots, the second-longest such streak in major league history. Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson, currently on the disabled list, hit 23 in a row from 2007-08 with Detroit.

"He's dangerous with the bases empty," Maddon said, "especially in this ballpark."

Two walks, a sacrifice bunt and a hit batter led to Longoria's sacrifice fly in the third.

B.J. Upton and Hank Blalock singled in the fourth, then pulled off a double steal. Jaso hit a two-run double, Crawford's RBI double with two outs thumped off the padded right-field fence and Longoria singled home another run to make it 6-0.

Notes

Tampa Bay matched a season high with 15 hits.

Longoria has 23 RBI in his past 20 games.

Burnett dropped to 12-5 against Tampa Bay.

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